Leaders of Leicester’s Hindu and Muslim communities urge ‘hate mongers’ to end ‘provocation and violence’

Leaders of Leicester’s Hindu and Muslim communities have called for an immediate end to weeks of violent unrest following a cricket match between India and Pakistan.

The widespread disorder – since an Asia Cup cricket match on August 28 – led to one man being jailed and 47 arrests in total, with a religious leader saying it was sparked by a “nation-wide dispute” after the cricket.

On Tuesday, city leaders urged “hate mongers” to stop “provocation and violence — both in thought and behavior” and urged out-of-town troublemakers to stay away.

“Leicester has no place for any divisive foreign extremist ideology,” they said in a joint statement.

“We, the family of Leicester, stand before you not only as Hindus and Muslims, but as brothers and sisters.

“Our two faiths have lived harmoniously in this wonderful city for over half a century.

“We arrived in this city together. We faced the same challenges together; together we fought against racist haters and together we made this city a beacon of diversity and community cohesion.”

“This is not supported by our beliefs”

“We are therefore saddened and heartbroken to see the outbreak of tension and violence,” they added.

“Physical attacks on innocent people and unjustified damage to property are not part of a decent society and indeed not part of our beliefs. What we saw is not what we are talking about.”

“We ask everyone to respect the sanctity of religious places, mosques and mandirs alike – whether provoked by loud music, flag-waving, derogatory songs or physical attacks against the fabric of worship.

“This is not acceptable and is not supported by our beliefs.”

Warning that violence could spread beyond the city

Suleman Nagdi, of the Federation of Muslim Organizations in the city, said “loyalties kicked in” after the cricket match.

Tensions escalated over the weekend after unplanned protests on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

The trouble was fueled by some “very skewed stuff on social media” as well as people coming in from outside to “get a bit of preparation”, Leicester Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby told BBC Radio’s Today program 4.

Police have previously warned people not to post “unnecessary speculation online”.

However, Majid Freeman, a Muslim activist from Leicester, says the situation has worsened since May when a young Muslim man was attacked.

“They reported the police instead of taking matters into their own hands,” he said. “It’s been over three months, three and a half months and the police haven’t charged anyone.”

Since then, he says there have been more incidents, leading to frustration with the police. He says reports that the violence started with the cricket match are wrong.

Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe warned that police and community leaders must act urgently to end the violence.

“This has the potential to spread to other areas or other areas in Leicester and it has the potential to spread across the country,” she said.

The investigation will last for months

Leicestershire acting chief constable Rob Nixon said the investigation would continue for “a number of months” until those responsible were identified and brought to justice.

He told Sky News: “I’m very encouraged by the level of support from the management at Leicester. Traditional community leaders, partners (…) have a very detailed dialogue about some of these tensions, how we got to where we are. they are also how we solve them and we will take the problems further.”

Leicestershire Police said Amos Noronha, 20, was jailed for 10 months after pleading guilty to possession of an offensive weapon in connection with the violence.

He appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Monday, the force said, adding that many of those detained were from outside the city, including several people from Birmingham.

Police officers were diverted from the Queen’s funeral to deal with the disturbance in the East Midlands, including the West Midlands, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Horses from Thames Valley Police were also deployed.